Who we are...
F2NS Global Group, Incorporated (F2NS) is a small Disabled Veteran owned consulting and support corporation with the professional expertise, technical knowledge, and capabilities to provide critical support, assistance and management across a broad spectrum of disciplines to businesses of all sizes as well as federal, state, and local government, law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD), and defense related businesses.
Our core strengths are in the areas of:
Program Management
Program management, as its name suggests, usually focuses on program development activities and related processes, like staffing. But for complex, multi-departmental, or multifunctional programs a traditional management focus is too narrow. Program management goes beyond just a single area in scope. It includes the business purpose, the operational processes that will be affected, the required technology infrastructure and the program’s organizational impact. Some of the areas of concentration are:
- Analysis of current management controls
- Development of a structured management plan
- Identification of base requirements
- Development of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Establishment of specific milestones and goals
- Develop Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) for major functional areas
- Application of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements (if applicable)
- Implementation of Life Cycle Management procedures
Acquisition Support
The acquisition of equipment, materials, and support is a critical and highly visible area that requires the knowledge and expertise that is gained through experience at multiple levels. Having the capabilities to establish systematic methodologies that can streamline the process, provide essential oversight and promote an open-system approach will provide for cost/time effective acquisition and ensure best value principles. We provide the professional capabilities essential to:
- Provide primary program management support from a single project to the oversight of a multitude of ongoing research, concept evaluation, and acquisition projects.
- Conduct research into new products through completing market surveys, supportability analyses, and life cycle cost estimations.
- Work fielding and sustainment issues for new equipment and legacy equipment.
- Development of mid-range and long range planning schedules to identify critical activities and milestone events.
- Develop and maintain budget and funding controls and reports concerning R&D, acquisition forecasting, procurement, and life-cycle costs to insure accountability and compliance with FAR, State and/or Local applicable guidelines.
- The development and implementation of program/project metrics, to include:
- Metrics worksheets
- Business Process Reviews
- Internal Management Controls
- Annual Reports
- Maintain and update the required program documentation, including the Integrated Program Summary (IPS).
Business Analysis
There are at least four tiers of business analysis:
- Planning Strategically – The analysis of the organization's strategic business needs.
- Operating/Business Model Analysis – The definition and analysis of the organization's policies and market business approaches.
- Process Definition and Design – The business process modeling (often developed through process modeling and design)
- IT/Technical Business Analysis – The interpretation of business rules and requirements for technical systems (generally IT)
For each of these tiers, specific information is gathered and used:
- Business Requirements (project initiation document): What the needed achievements will be, and the quality measures.
- Functional Requirements: Describes what the system, process, or product/service must do in order to fulfill the business requirements.
- User (Stakeholder) Requirements: A very important part of the deliverables, the needs of the stakeholders must be correctly interpreted.
- Quality-of-Service (Non-Functional) Requirements: Requirements that do not perform a specific function for the business requirement but are needed to support the functionality.
- Implementation (Transition) Requirements: The temporary capabilities or functions required only to enable transition from the current state of the enterprise to the desired future state.
- The Traceability Matrix: This is a cross matrix for recording the requirements through each stage of the requirements gathering process. High level concepts will be matched to scope items which will map to individual requirements which will map to corresponding functions. This matrix should also take into account any changes in scope during the life of the project. At the end of a project, this matrix should show each function, its source and the reason that any stated requirements may not have been delivered.
Information Assurance (IA) and Security
The U.S. Government's National Information Assurance Glossary defines IA as: Measures that protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. These measures include providing for restoration of information systems by incorporating protection, detection, and reaction capabilities.
F2NS takes the following steps:
- Review of current measures covering
- Confidentiality
- Integrity
- Authenticity
- Availability
- Non-repudiation
- Perform a Risk Assessment to indentify
- Probability of threats and vulnerabilities
- Impact
- Development of a Risk Management Plan addressing:
- Mitigation, elimination, acceptance, and transfer of risk
- Prevention of risks
- Detection of risks
- Response to threats
- Develop and implement Countermeasures including:
- Tools (firewalls, anti-virus software, etc)
- Comprehensive Policies and Procedures
- Training
- Conduct a Test and Evaluation after implementation.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning can be a slow and laborious process. There are no overnight successes, and every company that is a quick success reached it through diligent planning and implementation. There are six basic elements in the formulation of a Strategic Plan:
- Vision
- Current status (resources, markets and competition)
- Mission Statement
- Critical Success Factors
- Strategies & Actions for Objectives
- Prioritized Implementation Schedule Timeline
- Now to 1 year
- 2 to 5 years
- 5 year plus
These elements become the foundation of a workable and achievable business plan.
Ballistic Protection
Ballistics is the science and technology of mechanics that deals with the flight behaviour and the effects of projectiles. The principle of ballistic protection systems is based on this science and technology. A ballistic impact protection system, as used in protective clothing, absorbs the impact of a gun-fired projectiles fired from handguns, shotguns, and small fragments from explosives such as hand grenades. Protection for vehicles or structures needs to be even more robust, since it must be designed to defeat greater threats. It requires expert knowledge to be able to create the right protection for any particular situations. F2NS personnel have extensive knowledge in this field and can provide:
- Analyzing threats and recommending the correct countermeasures.
- Knowledge of the industry and materials/equipment that best meet the required levels of protection.
- Assistance in the acquisition/procurement of the correct equipment or solutions.
- Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the fields of personnel protective equipment, performance specification development, test and evaluation procedures, sustainment and Life Cycle Management, and training.
Integrated Logistics Support
Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) is the management method that plans and directs the activities of many technical disciplines associated with the identification and development of logistics support and requirements for military systems or equipment / parts. There are comparable organizations outside the military which provide the same capabilities. In a commercial company this organization may be called product support, customer service or many other similar names. Ten logistic support ILS elements can be identified:
- Reliability engineering, Maintainability engineering and Maintenance (preventive, predictive and corrective) Planning
- Supply (Spare part) Support / acquire resources
- Support and Test Equipment/Equipment Support
- Manpower and Personnel
- Training and Training Support
- Technical Data / Publications
- Computer Resources Support
- Facilities
- Packaging, Handling, Storage, and Transportation (PHS&T)
- Design Interface
Test and Evaluation (T&E) Management
T&E Management programs should be structured to:
- Provide essential information to support decision-making
- Provide essential information for assessing technical and acquisition risk
- Verify the attainment of technical performance specifications and objectives
- Verify that systems are operationally effective and suitable for intended use
T&E should be involved from the initial concept or exploration phase of a program or project. The management program should be developed to insure:
- Early Involvement of an Expanded T&E Team. Involve T&E and site personnel when defining the test strategy and increase coordination as development proceeds. The expanded test team should be apprised of program and schedule changes that might affect site testing.
- Use of Qualified Facilities for Testing. Testing at qualified facility instead of at the developer’s facilities when realistic operational environments are critical to the test and will minimize test disruptions to site operations.
- Early Testing. The earlier in the acquisition management process problems are discovered the easier they are to correct, the lower the cost to correct, and the smaller the schedule impact. Increase resources for early testing until the marginal cost of additional testing equals the expected savings associated with finding problems earlier rather than later.
- Coordination. Test programs for major acquisitions are extremely complex. Test program success is dependent on team coordination, even when test documents are perfectly prepared.
- Relationships. The relationship between personnel should be cooperative and goal-oriented rather than adversarial. Testing is adversely affected if goals are significantly different or if organization loyalties are more important than cooperating to get the job done.
- Use Software Inspections and Automated Tools to Reduce Testing Costs. It is reported that 60 to 90 percent of software defects are found through software inspection. In addition to eliminating some repetitive manual tasks, tools can promote effective dynamic analysis by guiding the selection of test data and monitoring test execution.
- Testing COTS/NDI. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf/Non-Developmental Items (COTS/NDI), like developmental systems, must satisfy operational performance and suitability requirements. The greatest differences between COTS/NDI system testing and developmental system testing occur in lower-level tests where the user does not have access to COTS/NDI code, board designs, etc.
- Joint Test Programs. For joint test programs to be successful, planning must start early in the acquisition management process. Mitigate differences through coordination, define roles and responsibilities, ensure that requirements are broad enough to cover all participant’s needs, and develop and use similar test strategies.
- Dry Runs. All test programs significantly benefit from the performance of “dry runs” of tests/procedures prior to formal conduct.
Summary:
Our team includes some of the top professionals in the region, capable of handling all aspects of the customer’s needs. This experience has been gained through extensive involvement in the design, development and execution of major Department of Defense and government programs to include:
- Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) Program
- Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) Program
- Advanced Bomb Suit
- AIRSAVE
- Non-Destructive Test & Evaluation System
- Marine Air Ground Task Force Command and Control (MAGTF C2) System
- The US Navy SMART SHIP Program
This extensive background is coupled with insight into the integration of the latest proven technologies, methodologies and innovations delivering proven, sound, and sustainable results.